Railroad car gassing device



April 1951 w. E. SNOWDEN 2,549,255

RAILROAD CAR GASSING DEVICE Filed Feb. 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ZUaJ-QKE' Snowden HTTYS April 17, 1951 I w. E. SNOWDEN 2,549,255

RAILROAD CAR GASSING DEVICE Filed Feb. 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 //YVEN TOR ZUaraE'. Snowaen Patented Apr 17, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RAILROAD CAR GA'SSIhTG DEVICE Ward E. Snowden, Modesto, Calif.

Application February 14, 1949, Serial No. 76,253

3 Claims. 1

This invention is directed to, and it is an object to provide, a novel apparatus for introducing a preservative gas into a railroad car loaded with a perishable commodity, such as fresh fruit. When shipping such commodities in railroad refrigerator cars it is the practice to introduce a preservativev gas into the car after loading and at the start of the journey. In long cross-country journeys re-gassing of the car at an intermediate point often is desirable, and is now accomplished by breaking the car out of the train and moving the car onto a siding, where the car is opened and gas introduced from a portable unit placed in or near such car. This procedure is expensive and unreasonably delays movement of the car.

It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a loaded but initially inactive gassing device mounted directly in the car at the start; there being manually controlled means to cause said device to function at any selected point in transit. In this way re-gassing of a car in transit can be accomplished quickly and conveniently, without detaching the car from the train.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a car gassing device, as above, which is designed so that it may be caused to function without breaking the door seal or opening the car door.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a car gassing device which is designed for ease and economy of manufacture, and ready, inexpensive installation in a railroad car.

A further object of the invention is to provide a practical and reliable railroad car gassing device, and one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic elevation of a railroad refrigerator car showing the position of the device thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the device, the front cover of the housing being partly broken away.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentarycross section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, illustrating the mounting of the pull knob unit.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevation showing the valve unit as mounted on the upper end of the high pressure gas tank or cylinder.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the main portion of the device is mounted within a rectan gular protective housing I which is secured in the refrigerator car 2 on one side wall 3 thereof adjacent the car ceiling 6. The car door 5 is normally sealed, as at 6, after the car is loaded and at the start of the journey.

The rectangular protective housing I includes a removable front cover I, the latter being provided in order to permit of access to the major parts of the device which are mounted within said housing 1.

Within the housing I there is a high pressure gas tank or cylinder 8, secured in place by removable retention straps 9; such cylinder includ ing an upstanding neck [0 tapped for thereception, in plugging relation, of a valve unit, indicated generally at H. The valve includes an internal chamber I2 which communicates, at its lower end, with a feed tube It which extends downwardly to a point adjacent but short of the bottom of the cylinder 8. The upper portion of the internal chamber i2 is formed with a lateral outlet fitting M.

The internal chamber [2 is normally closed, adjacent its lower end, by a horizontal sealing disc 25 clamped between parts of the valve unit 1 l in order to maintain a complete closure against escape of the gas from the cylinder 8.

t its upper end the valve unit ii is fitted with an elongated plunger it which extends in vertically slidable relation through a plug ll threaded into the upper end of the valve unit ii.

The elongated plunger it is pointed, at its lower end, as at lil, whereby upon forceful downward motion of said plunger it engages and perforate the horizontal sealing disc It. See the dotted line position of the point it in Fig. 4.

Upon perforation or rupturing of the h-ori zcntal sealing disc is by the plunger the high pressure gas escapes from the cylinder 3 into the internal chamber ill of the Valve unit ll. Thence such gas flows through the lateral outlet fitting M to a connected feed conduit ill;

such feed conduit is branching at the top of the housing I into two lateral pipes 2!] which extend through opposite sides of said housing I, and exteriorly of the latter such pipes are fitted with nozzles 2i angled to discharge diagonally into opposite end portions of the car over the load. With this arrangement the gas, upon perforation or rupturing of the sealing disc 15, discharges under high pressure from the nozzles 2|, effectively gassing the car; the gas being of any suitable type to act as a preservative or anti-spoilage medium for the load.

The'following control mechanism is provided for the purpose of actuating the plunger H5 in a downward direction to perforate or rupture the sealing disc I5.

A normally raised, transverse lever 22 is pivoted, intermediate its ends, as at 23, to the upper end of the plunger l6; one end of the lever 22 being pivotally linked to the valve unit H, as at 24 The lever 22 normally extends at an upward incline from its connection with the pivotal link 24, so that downward swinging motion of said lever at its opposite or upper end thrusts the plunger 16 downwardly.

Such opposite or upper end of the lever'22 is connected, as at 25, to a fiexible pull wire 26 which leads downwardly in the housing I to the bottom thereof, and said pull wire thence passes into a flexible sheath 2?, which is of substantial length and leads to' a mounting fitting 28. Such mounting fitting provides the guide for a pull knob 29 connected to the adjacent end of the pull wire 26.

The assembly of the mounting fitting 28 and pull knob 29is afiixed to a bracket ea in a recess 3| in the side of the railroad car 2 laterally of the car door 5, and at an elevation for convenient manualaccess by a person standing alongside the car.

The recess 3| includes a door 32 which is adapted to be opened from exteriorly of the car 2, but which door is normally sealed, as at 33.

From the mounting fitting 28 on the bracket 30, the flexible sheath 21 extends into the car and up the side wall 3 into the housing I in the manner illustrated.

To effect operation of the described car gassing device from exteriorly of the car 2, the operator breaks the seal 33, opens the door 83, and pulls forcefully in an outward direction on the pull knob 29. This actuates the pull wire 26 in a direction to swing the lever 22 downwardly, resulting in perforation of the sealing disc, and entry of the gas into the car in the manner previously described.

The operation can thus be accomplished readily, conveniently, and effectively, without the necessity of breaking the seal 6 or opening the car door 5. Additionally, the time required for the operation is so short that the car need not be removed from the train, and can remain in transit therewith.

To recharge the device at the start of a subsequent journey it is only necessary to remove the front cover 1 of the housing I and to remove and replace the cylinder 8; the latter being accomplished without difficulty, for the reason that the retention straps 9 are removable and held in place by wing nuts, as shown. The recharging operation; also contemplates the resetting of the pull knob 29 and lever 22 to their initial position.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there has been produced such a de vice as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention, as set forth herein. 7

'While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a dc parture from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new and useful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired:

1. A device for the purpose described comprising in combination with a railway car, a source of high pressure gas disposed within the car, the car being provided with a recess formed in a wall of the car at a point separate from the door of the car and opening to the outside of the car, and means disposed in said recess and projecting into the car and being connected with the gas source and operative to release the gas from said source into the car.

2. A device as in claim 1 including a door normally closing said recess, and detachable Orleans normally sealing the door in closed posi- 3. A device for the purpose described comprising in combination with a railway car, a container disposed at a point within the car, said container being filled with gas under high pressure and being provided with a puncturable seal, a plunger positioned to puncture the seal upon movement of the seal, a pivoted lever operatively connected with the plunger to effect movement thereof and puncture the seal, the car being provided with a recess formed in a wall thereof at a point separate from the door of the car and remote from the container, a pull cable connected with the plunger and operable to swing the latter on its pivot, such cable extending inside the car to a point adjacent the recess, and a pull element in the recess projecting into the car and being connected with the cable.

WARD E. SNOWDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

2 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

